Page 2637 - Week 09 - Thursday, 16 September 2021
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community organisation working on the front lines and providing strategic advice to government including, but not limited to, Canberra Multicultural Community Forum, Meridian, Canberra Community Law, Mental Illness Education ACT, Directions Health Services, Havelock House, the Perinatal Wellbeing Centre, ATODA, ACTCOSS, the Mental Health Community Coalition, the ACT Shelter and community housing providers.”
I am calling on my colleagues in this Assembly to join me in thanking the ACT community sector for their significant contribution to the ACT government’s response to COVID-19 and invaluable support for Canberrans facing disadvantage.
I would like to highlight the work of Canberra’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations, including Winnunga Nimmityjah Health Service, which have been absolutely fundamental to supporting their mob in this lockdown and getting people access to vaccines. Their work in the AMC is commendable. I send them strength and my support as they continue to respond to their exposure last week. I call on the ACT government to ensure that Aboriginal community-controlled organisations are included and prioritised in the work arising from this motion.
I would also like to highlight the lifesaving work of the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy (CAHMA) and Hepatitis ACT. The alcohol and other drugs sector has been at the forefront of efforts to assist the most disadvantaged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on connections with and a longstanding trust established with people who use drugs, CAHMA staff have worked around the clock to provide basic assistance to and human connection with people in quarantine at Condamine Court and Ainslie Village.
Specialist alcohol and other drug services providers have provided normal clinical services and reached out to priority communities with in-reach testing and vaccination to help people stay safe and reduce the spread of infection. This work has been done in close coordination with the ACT government health services. It has been done with support by other community sector organisations, like Hepatitis ACT, who have also provided much-needed assistance to priority populations.
The government learned well from the earlier portion of the pandemic response in the territory. The community sector has expressed its appreciation for the improved flow of information between government and the community sector and the spirit of collaboration to contain the spread of the virus and assist Canberra’s most disadvantaged citizens.
My motion calls on the government to provide clarity, support and assurance to the ACT community sector organisations, whose leadership has been integral to the ACT government’s successful and just response to this outbreak. I call on the ACT government to continue to work closely with these community sector organisations on the government’s response to the outbreak. I hope that, through this motion, the ACT government will commit to continuing to provide certainty, flexibility and support around funding at a time when these organisations have been hit hard financially by the lockdown.
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